Speak Now
by L.R.T
Summary: Jessibelle's in possession of both James and enough money to pull off a wedding in less than a day. How will Jessie and Meowth ever be able to find him? One-shot. Rocketshippy.


Speak Now

L.R.T.

_There's the silence, there's my last chance. I stand up with shaking hands, all eyes on me._

* * *

><p>Jessie's memory relayed everything back to her in slow-motion whenever she thought back to the night James was taken. Now, of course, it seemed as though she were purposefully letting herself fall deeper into sleep out of spite as suddenly a cloud of yellow pollen fell over him, causing him to wake up paralyzed, his old butler carting him off, the only other sounds in the woods where they had camped for the night being the hysterical cackles of a certain shrew.<p>

Neither Jessie or Meowth woke and though neither would admit it to the other, they felt guilty about it. Though the plan had gone off with barely the brush of a tree branch they both thought the same thing - we let him down again.

It had been Jessie who, upon seeing the remnants of the stun spore on his sleeping bag, came to the conclusion of Jessibelle and James's family. It was Meowth who came up with the idea to find a Pokemon Center and the biggest map they had available, then see if they could find where his grandparents lived - or at least a phone number. If they were invited to the wedding, then they had their in; if they weren't they would have to have some idea where this thing was being held. Both agreed his parents were too devious to risk having it at the main house again considering the very likely scenario of them crashing and Jessie ripping Jessibelle's hair out right from the roots. And she had roots - it wasn't natural.

Sprawled out on a couch at the Pokemon Center, Jessie looked up at the light directly above her as Meowth did all the work, much to Joy's surprise and confusion. She pit herself in a staring match against the light, knowing she would never win. Blinking a few times at last, her eyes sore, she sat up, rubbing them, unable to count all the colored dots she saw.

While Joy tried to track down the number for James's grandparents, Meowth looked back at Jessie. She either never wanted to take responsibility for anything or took too much of it on herself. She'd barely said a word during their flight to the Pokemon Center, simply looking out over the trees and then once he'd caught her looking at her hand and smiling nostalgically. Whatever that was about. He'd suggested going to the police - after all, he _was_ kidnapped - to try and start a conversation and get a plan going. Jessie shot him a glare and berated him for the rest of the balloon ride about how stupid he was for wanting to go to Officer Jenny and asking for help for a _Team Rocket_ member. At least she was talking. Loudly. Yelling, actually. Meowth wasn't about to split hairs.

"Got it!" Meowth said happily as he jumped down off the counter, the look on Joy's face still a mixture of confusion, intrigue and something else.

Jessie got up off the couch and reached down, grabbing the piece of paper from him. Even Joy's handwriting was perky. Without a word she went over to the phones and put in the number, the receiver to her ear.

"Hey! I got da ting, I should be able to listen in!"

Rolling her eyes, she waited for him to jump up onto her shoulder and held the receiver out so they both could hear, mumbling something better left unheard.

After five and a half rings - she'd counted - Pop-Pop picked up the receiver on his end but was apparently unaware he'd done so, fiddling with the wires and reception on the screen, also mumbling things better left unheard, much to Jessie and Meowth's surprise.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, dear," came the familiar voice of Nanny, walking into view from the back of the room and shooing her husband out of the way. "Yes? Yes what is - why look, it's James's old friends! What a nice surprise. Are you checking on Chimecho for him?"

Jessie and Meowth exchanged glances. "Um, no. Actually...I'm guessing you haven't heard, then," she said, a bit of defeat in her voice.

"Hmm? Heard what?"

"Well, last night James's fiancee, Jessibelle -"

Pop-Pop came back into the background and shook his head, crossing his arms. "Never did like her."

"She came last night in the middle of the night, had her horrible Pokemon stun spore James and then that awful butler of his helped her take him away. They probably got tired of waiting for James so they just took him and now who knows what's happening!" Jessie said desperately.

"We was thinkin', ya know, yer family and everyting. You might know somethin'," Meowth said.

"Oh," Nanny said, waving her hand in front of her face in dismissal, "we were invited to that display and turned it down right away. Don't want to see it."

"I might have stood up and put a stop to it!" Pop-Pop said. "The family doesn't need that kind of thing coming from us."

Jessie's eyes widened as she leaned closer to the screen. "But you know where it is?"

"Sure, it's at Jessibelle's parents' house."

"Can you give us an address? Anything?" she asked, flipping the paper over with their phone number on it and using an old pen that sat at the phone that took about four tries to finally get going to write down the information.

"We can't tank yas enough! Yer savin' James from a life of -"

"Jail," Jessie interjected and, after saying her own quick goodbyes, hung up.

"Well dat was rude!" Meowth said, hopping off her shoulder and onto the ground.

"We don't have time. We have to crash the hell out of this wedding!"

"Ya ain't even gonna stop for somethin' cute to wear?"

"Oh, will you shut up?" she snapped, storming out the Pokemon Center door.

Meowth looked back at Nurse Joy and thumbed at the door. "Ya know. _Humans_."

Nurse Joy smiled nervously, waving as he raced to catch up with Jessie. "Come a...gain..."

* * *

><p>"Look at her," Jessie said, the venom almost visibly seeping from her mouth with every word, "acting as though this is all completely normal! Getting her hair done...make-up done. Oh, and would you look at that dress? It's so big she won't be able to fit through the doors! Hmph." She sat up as much as she could in the small attic above Jessibelle's bedroom, similar to what they had done before at James's home. "Or maybe she's just that fat."<p>

"Jess!" hissed Meowth from across the attic, waving her over. "I found James!"

Crawling across the attic as best she could, trying to be quiet - this was much easier for Meowth - Jessie soon joined him and peered down a small hole, making a face. "Why is her hole so damn big and his so small?"

James visibly frowned as his father did his tie, glancing up at the attic briefly before his mother pulled his attention away and began to prattle on about something. All James could hear was "misery."

Back up in the attic Meowth let his claws out, ready to scratch Jessie good for almost giving them away. "And ya say I got the big Meowth!"

Jessie smacked him away, however, putting her face closer to the hole. She watched silently until James left the room and then sat back on the heels of her boots, looking straight ahead at nothing but plywood. "He looks so..."

"Sad?" Meowth offered.

"That but...something else, too." She shook her head to rid it of the thoughts it couldn't quite complete anyway and looked at Meowth. "You don't have to do this with me, you know."

Meowth sat down, laughing a little. "And miss da fireworks?"

Her legs slid from under her, letting her rest on her thighs now, looking toward the hole again. "She had her own torture chamber at James's house. This is _her_ house. Imagine what she has."

He looked up at Jessie, a rare serious look on his face and tone to his voice. "We ain't da bravest, it's true. But when a friend needs us, we're dere, ain't we? For betta or for worse."

Jessie smiled at him, reaching over and pinching his cheek, making him whine. "I'll make sure to tell James that you never gave up or lost hope."

"Yeah? You really will?"

She shrugged. "If we make it out of this alive."

Meowth slumped back against the wall. "What was dat ting about hope ya said?"

* * *

><p>As Jessibelle took her so-called "rightful" place at the front of what her family had converted a large ballroom into a make-shift church for the occasion, Jessie and Meowth sneaked inside the house. After having to duck past caterers and other help, they finally made it to the ballroom just in time for the minister to say, "Should anyone find any reason Miss Jessibelle and James should not be married on this day, speak now or forever hold your peace."<p>

Without thinking, Jessie stepped into the ballroom, boots clicking lightly against the beautiful floor, already causing some of the guests to turn and look. "I do. I have a list of reasons."

James, whose head had been lowered ever since he took his mark in front of the minister, immediately lifted it and stared down the long aisle at the mess of a girl in front of him - white uniform dusty and dirty, hair a mess with even more dust trapped in her signature 'do. He wondered where on earth she'd been and then remembered the sound from above when he was with his parents. A broad grin spread across his face and he turned to look at her, dropping the hands that were forced into his. "Jessie..." he murmured.

"What on earth is this trash doin' here?" Jessibelle asked and then proceeded to whine, "they're ruinin' mah weddin' day!"

Jessie took another step forward, swallowing hard, eyes locking on James. Her stomach lept up into her throat at the sight of him that way - _a groom_ of all things, no matter how forced it was. In a strange way she knew they were both thinking of the same moment - similar in a way and completely different at the same time; eyes locked on each other, Meowth nowhere around, sailing off into the sunset and their freedom together.

Meowth soon joined her but didn't say anything, waiting for Jessie to finally just come out with it already. Nothing kicked your heart into gear like a good dose of reality and this was just about as real as it got. Everyone was waiting for this accused "list of reasons" but Jessie found her mouth hanging open, dry and not saying the words she'd planned at all. "I'm in love with him."

The over-dramatic southern gasps and faux-swoons flooded the room to a point where even Jessie wanted to tell them to shut up and tone it down, for crying out loud. James stared, blinking a few times, trying to process everything in the chaos. Jessibelle fumed, yelling to deaf ears, "Ah knew it! Ah knew she wasn't just corrupting you through that terrible Team Rocket but she was corrupting your dear heart as well!"

Jessie put her hands on her hips, the truth finally escaping her lips reviving her vigor and certainly her will to fight for James. "Corrupting? You're the one with the bondage fetish and torture chamber in the basement!"

The chaos immediately stopped and was replaced with dead silence, heads almost in unison slowly turning to the front of the ballroom to look at Jessibelle who, in turn, looked at Jessie in horror. "You...you..."

"Heh, guess dat ain't such a southern tradition as dey made us tink it was," Meowth snickered.

"_Daddy_!" Jessibelle screamed, clutching the sides of her dress in rage, "Ah want them _gone_ so the weddin' may proceed!"

"No..." James said quietly, turning his head to Jessibelle and repeating again, "No!"

"Excuse me?"

"I - I only went along with this because I never thought they'd find me. I don't know how they did...but they did. I didn't think there was any use in fighting it anymore."

"Keep thinkin' that way!" Jessibelle said, smiling, deluded.

James shook his head, glaring at her. "You kidnapped me from my friends in the middle of the night and took me to the one place you thought they would never find._ But they did_. They fought for me and now I'm fighting for them! I'm fighting to stay with them!"

More murmurs came from the guests as the minister closed his Bible and put his glasses in his chest pocket. "If James doesn't want to marry Miss Jessibelle, then I cannot marry them. You, Miss Jessibelle, may not abide by a code of ethics, but I most certainly do." He pointed up at the ceiling.

Meowth looked up as well, then asked, "Who's in da attic now?" Jessie kicked him in the side.

Jessibelle slowly turned her head toward Jessie, eyes cold as she lifted her dress and began a walk down the aisle headed right for her that quickly turned into a sprint then an all-out run, "Ah'll kill you!" she screeched.

Jessie stood her ground, even encouraging her. "I'd like to see you try without a servant to help you!"

James's eyes widened as the gap between them shortened, causing him to run after Jessibelle but call out Jessie's name.

Arms crossed, Jessie waited for Jessibelle to reach her then stepped aside and let Meowth get that fury swipe in that she'd deprived him of earlier. Everyone gasped, including James, who was still running only to reach Jessie and Meowth while Jessibelle came to a screeching halt, reaching up and touching her face, then pulling her hand away and seeing the red on her fingertips.

"_Daddy_!" she screamed again, putting her hands to her face and screaming once more when he tried to use her veil to dab some of the blood and tears away. She ran out of the ballroom, father following along with most of the guests and James's parents.

"You really gave it to her," Jessie said, impressed.

Meowth shrugged, breathing on his nails and then rubbing them on his chest. "Dere's a lotta tings I can do dat might shock ya."

"Like what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Seein' if I can get my paws on any grub while you two talk about da Onix in da room." He grinned a toothy smile and before either could protest, he was sneaking off to the kitchen.

James started by immediately hugging her which Jessie was cautious to return but did, smiling and reprimanding him through the whole thing, "I'm dirty, your nice suit will be ruined now."

Pulling away, James shrugged, looking down at it and its new dust marks. "I don't want to keep this thing anyway."

"Really? I thought you looked -" she paused, smiling at him, "really handsome in it."

He blushed, adjusting his tie slightly. "Well...we could get it cleaned, I suppose..."

"The Onix is still in the room, you know."

He nodded, reaching for her hand and pulling her to sit down with him in one of the now-abandoned chairs. "Did you mean it?"

It was her turn to nod now, looking down at her lap, somehow embarrassed by the whole thing now despite how great it felt in the moment. She looked up when James's hold on her hand tightened and was met with his smile, a constant reassurance that everything was and would be okay. "Now what?" she asked.

"Well..." He looked at the minister packing up his things, then back to a horrified Jessie before bursting out laughing. "Your face!"

Smacking him in the arm, outraged but letting him get away with it given what he'd been through, she said, "'Is beautiful' had better be following that or I'm getting Jessibelle and telling her I made a big mistake!"

Still laughing, James adjusted himself in the chair, looking into her eyes and putting a hand on her cheek. "Your face is perfect. And I love it."

Jessie grinned at him, squeezing his hand. "Let's blow this joint, huh? Wherever you were headed for your honeymoon, we have a place you'd much rather be."

"Uh, Jess?"

"Hmm?" She turned, guiding him down the aisle.

"I'd rather be anywhere else. _Anywhere_."

* * *

><p>James laughed as Chimecho wrapped its tail around his eyes. "I can't believe how big you've gotten! And how well you look! Nanny and Pop-Pop, thank you. You've taken such good care of Chimecho."<p>

"Oh, James. You know we'd do anything for you. And Chimecho is a dream, it's really nothing," Nanny said with a smile.

"We told you before, James," Pop-Pop said, "you've got some good friends, there."

"I'm da only one dat's a friend, here," Meowth said only to be elbowed in the ribs by Jessie as they sat on the couch.

James looked back at Jessie, then to his grandparents. "Let's just say...when you thought that Jessie was my wife? You knew a bit more than we did then."

"So that's why you wanted to stop the wedding!" Pop-Pop said.

Jessie's eyes widened. "What? No! No! We just wanted James back with us. It wasn't until I was there and he was there and -"

"And ya spilled ya guts everywhere," Meowth interjected.

"Do you _mind_?" she said, annoyed, jabbing him again in the side.

"Sometimes things like that come out when you least expect it," Nanny said.

"Tell me about it," Jessie agreed.

"No regrets, though," James said as Chimecho nuzzled in his lap, "right?"

Jessie looked over at him and smiled, shaking her head. "No regrets."

James kept one arm wrapped around Chimecho and reached down, taking Jessie's hand and smiling back at her, blue and green eyes repeating the scene that had been running through their heads from the moment they first saw each other in Jessibelle's ballroom...

_"Guess we're not going to get rich this time, either."_

_James put his hand behind his head, looking down sheepishly. "Guess not. They wouldn't give me the inheritance."_

_Tossing her hair back over her shoulder, Jessie said, "Oh, there's always next time. We may not make a lot of money but we sure have got our freedom!"_

_Nodding in agreement, James smiled. "Yeah. Double trouble time, right?" he asked, holding out his hand to her._

_"Sounds great to me, James!" Jessie replied, reaching for his hand and pausing briefly before taking it in her own and looking up at him, her eyes immediately pulled into his and a smile appearing on her face that she didn't realize was there._

It had only taken them a few miles to snap out of their daze and remember Meowth on the ground. It took a few more miles this time for Meowth to catch up from Jessibelle's mansion, carrying food in his little arms and yelling after them once more, _"Wait! Ya forgot Meowth! Again!"_


End file.
